Lenawee Christian Earns Saturday Return
March 20, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – From 1998-2001, Adrian Lenawee Christian’s boys basketball team made four MHSAA Quarterfinals and advanced to three Semifinals.
Senior guard Brad Harrah remembers and is reminded every day.
“Every time I come out to practice, I see those banners and they remind me of the last time we were here,” he said. “It just drives our team.”
It helped drive the Cougars on Thursday into an MHSAA Final for the first time.
Lenawee Christian survived a third-quarter comeback by sharp-shooting Cedarville to advance to its first boys basketball championship game with a 67-58 victory in the final Class D Semifinal at the Breslin Center.
“It just means everything to us. As one of our players said, it’s our only option. We don’t have any other option but to come out and win this game and come out and win Saturday,” Harrah said. “Just to get back to where the program was, and take it a step farther, is just incredible.”
The Cougars (21-4) will face two-time defending champion Southfield Christian at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Total, Lenawee Christian has made the season’s final week eight times over the last 17 years. Its last three Quarterfinal runs were stopped by Class D powerhouse Wyoming Tri-unity Christian – but this week the Cougars were able to break through with an overtime win Tuesday over Battle Creek St. Philip.
Lenawee Christian took a one-point lead Thursday on junior Nick Mewborn’s 3-pointer before the first-quarter horn, and pushed the advantage to 10 by halftime.
But Cedarville (24-2) just needed a few more minutes to heat up.
The Trojans made 8 of 15 shots from the floor during the third quarter, and junior forward Brad Causley scored 15 of his 22 points during the period as Cedarville pulled within 48-47. The Trojans then tied the score 49-49 on another Causley bucket 28 seconds into the fourth quarter.
“Being such an experienced team and having a great tradition, we knew they would have a run and were going to come back,” Lenawee Christian coach Scott McKelvey said. “They have so many great shooters on their team, and we had to weather their run. … I thought we did a great job keeping our composure.”
The key was getting the ball in the post to 6-7 senior forward Kingsley, who finished with 22 points and 16 rebounds. Sophomore 6-7 center Maxwell had 12 points, including the go-ahead basket to break the fourth-quarter tie and another bucket to push the lead back to six with 5:33 to play.
Senior guard Grant Hohlbein also added 15 points and seven rebounds for Lenawee Christian – with six of those points coming in the fourth quarter.
The Trojans also cooled off substantially, making only 2 of 16 shots from the floor during the final period.
“Every coach in America says when you’re making shots, you look good,” Cedarville coach Dave Duncan said. “But I’m proud of our effort – it was a pretty gutsy effort I felt like we played with in the second half.”
Junior guard Joey Duncan also had 22 points for the Trojans and grabbed nine rebounds. Senior center Dann Stenback added 12 points and five rebounds.
Cedarville made its third Quarterfinal in four seasons this week, with the Semifinal berth its first since 2009.
Click for a full box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTO: (Top) Adrian Lenawee Christian’s Nick Mewborn works to find an opening in the Cedarville defense during Thursday’s Class D Semifinal. (Middle) Cedarville's Joey Duncan attempts to drive past a Lenawee Christian defender.
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Grant Hohlbein keyed an 8-0 fourth quarter run for Adrian Lenawee Christian with a pair of baskets, including this baseline drive. He ended the game with 15 points. (2) Brad Causley had 22 points and nine rebounds for Cedarville in the Class D Semifinal. Here he scores on a putback off a blocked shot.
Big Reds Come Up Big Time in 4th Quarter
March 21, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
EAST LANSING – One quarter – 8 minutes – remained in Friday’s last Class B Semifinal at the Breslin Center. Time appeared to be running out for Milan as it trailed Detroit Douglass by eight points.
And this was the scenario – almost – that the Big Reds wanted.
Sure, they would’ve liked to be trailing by less. And they probably didn’t want the ball in a freshman’s hands for the program’s most pressure-packed free throw of the last half century.
But aside from that …
“We were down eight and we had eight minutes to win this game,” senior guard Donovan Verges said. “We’re yelling at each other, ‘We’ve gotta come back,’ that we’re not losing today. We want to play in that championship game. So we went out there and fought as hard as we could.”
And they eventually edged Douglass, 51-50, in the most exciting Semifinal of this weekend.
Verges nailed a 3-pointer with 3:38 to play to tie the score for the first time since the start of the third quarter. It remained tied 50-50 with 22 seconds to play as the ball passed through four sets of hands near midcourt before falling into those of Milan freshman Garrett Gardette – who was fouled and made the go-ahead free throw with five seconds to play.
He missed the second free-throw attempt. But Douglass’ outlet pass off the rebound landed comfortably back in Verges’ hands with everyone else on the court then too stunned to do anything more before time expired.
Just like that, Milan (24-3) will be facing Benton Harbor on Saturday with a chance to win its first MHSAA title since claiming Class C in 1948.
“All year we said we wanted to make history here at Milan,” Big Reds senior Latin Davis said. “We wanted to leave a legacy. So that’s what we’re trying to do.”
The 5-foot-9 guard scored 17 points (on 6 of 10 shooting from the floor) with six assists, and 6-7 junior Nick Perkins added 16 points and nine rebounds.
Davis had only three points during the fourth-quarter comeback, but also had two assists. And he played the starring role as Milan’s defense allowed only 12 points in the third quarter and eight during the final period.
“Latin Davis has been underrated for three years. He’s a winner,” Milan coach Josh Tropea said “He’s 64-8 in the last three years, and he’s won more trophies than I care to count. And there’s no question we’re playing (Saturday) because of his leadership and his ability at point guard.”
Douglass coach Nkwane Young said after that his team had had difficulties all season against zone defenses. Milan switched to a stifling 1-2-2 zone for the fourth quarter after using a 2-3 earlier and watching as the Hurricanes found openings when the Big Reds tried switching to man-to-man.
Douglass senior guard Darrell Davis, a Mr. Basketball candidate, ended up spending most of the game stuck on the perimeter and got off only 11 shots in scoring just nine points, 16 below his average.
Senior point guard Terrell Hales did add 11 points, seven rebounds and five steals, with senior forward Deshawn Sanders leading with 15 points and senior forward Daavi Bradley coming off the bench to also score 11 for the Hurricanes (17-10).
Even then, Douglass’ final undoing fell partially on missing 5 of 9 free-throw attempts during the fourth quarter and making only 10 of 21 for the game.
“I thought the third quarter, we had control of it. And in the fourth quarter, I thought we were still in control,” Young said. “Like I told my team, one play doesn’t (lose) the game. There are some things we could’ve done differently, made some free throws. But otherwise, I’m proud of my team.”
The Semifinal run was the first for Douglass, which previously had reached a Quarterfinal in 2010. Davis was part of teams that finished 68-31 and won four District titles over his four seasons despite playing as a Class B in the Class A-heavy Detroit Public School League. Young called his standout the face of his program, and Davis will go on to play next season at the University of Dayton.
“The first year we took it to the Regional (Semifinal), and I wanted to take it farther than that, to the state championship,” Davis said. “My legacy is a good legacy at Fred D. I hope somebody comes in to replace it. I’ve just got to work harder in college, a stepping stone toward life.
“A lot of people doubted us, didn’t think we’d be making it this far. We came up a little short, but it’s OK. We just wanted to win, that’s all.”
Click for a full box score and video from the press conference.
PHOTOS: Milan freshman Garrett Gardette tries to get past Douglass’ Daavi Bradley during Friday’s Class B Semifinal. (Middle) The Hurricanes’ Darrell Davis works to get to the basket.
HIGHLIGHTS: (1) Detroit Douglass ended the first half on an 11-4 run, including this bucket by Darrell Davis on a break with 3 seconds to go. (2) Nick Perkins had a pair of baskets for Milan in the closing moments of its 51-50 Class B Semifinal win. This putback gave the Big Reds the 50-49 lead at the time.